Tag Archives: DNS BE

Domain Name Registrants, Domain Name Registrars, Domain Name Registry

DNS Belgium Advises .BE Registrants To Be Wary Of “Invoices” from BE Domein Host

[news release] DNS Belgium received some questions and complaints in regards to recent “invoices” from the company BE Domein Host. We would like to stress that this company is unknown to us, and is not a DNS Belgium registrar.

DNS Belgium advises everyone who receives an “invoice” from BE Domein Host to read the document carefully. The document is not an invoice but an offer for a service, in this case the registration of a .info domain name. You are therefore not required to accept this offer or to execute a payment.

The offer does not relate to your .be registration. It is merely an offer to register the .info domain name that corresponds to your .be domain name.
In the Netherlands a similar type of “invoices” are distributed. There the company is called NL Domein Host. Our colleagues form SIDN have also written an article on the matter.

We advise .be domain name holders to always contact their registrar in case of doubt. He will be able to provide you with more information regarding these types of offers and assist you in selecting services that might be of benefit to you.

Below you will find an example of the “invoice” in question.

Factuur BE Domein Host

This DNS Belgium announcement was sourced from:
www.dnsbelgium.be/en/news/be-your-guard-“invoices”-be-domein-host

Domain Name Registrants, Domain Name Registrars, Domain Name Registry

DNS Belgium Introduces Domain Guard To Protects .BE Domains

[news release] Some domain names are so important or of such great value that you want to have total control over them. You also want to be absolutely sure that no alterations take place without your explicit approval.  To meet this need, DNS Belgium has created Domain Guard, which is designed to enable you to give your domain name the strong security and protection you want.

If ever a request is made to modify something about your domain name or the details relating to it, DNS Belgium will contact the authorised person designated by you to ask for approval.

It may be highly unusual, but it is possible for a domain name to be deleted inadvertently. Unscrupulous individuals may also deliberately attempt to hijack domain names or make changes to the registration details. But with the strength of Domain Guard, these sorts of scenarios can be avoided and you can be 100 per cent certain that your domain name is safe.

Domain Guard ensures that your registrar is unable to alter the details linked to your domain name. This means that your domain name cannot be deleted or transferred. Some of the other TLDs call this service “Registry Lock”.

More information about Domain Guard and how you need to request it for your domain name.

This DNS Belgium announcement was sourced from:
www.dnsbelgium.be/en/news/domain-guard-protects-your-domain-name

Domain Name Registry, New gTLDs

.vlaanderen and .brussels now open to private individuals

[news release] Starting today, 13 November, and running until 15 December 2014 (10:00 CET), anyone with a valid Belgian eID card and Belgian identity will be able to apply for a .vlaanderen or .brussels domain name based on their official name.

To request your own personal .vlaanderen or .brussels domain name, all you need to do is log on to the eID wizard developed by DNS Belgium, using your eID. You will then be taken through the whole reservation process.

Which domain names can you apply for?

In this phase of the launch for the .vlaanderen of .brussels domain extensions, there are five possible domain names you can register, based on your official name. So, if your name is Jan Vandam, for example, you can apply for any of the following domain names:

•    vandam.vlaanderen
•    vandamjan.vlaanderen
•    janvandam.vlaanderen
•    vandamj.vlaanderen
•    jvandam.vlaanderen

And, of course, you can also apply for the .brussels variants in the same way.

How do you apply?

As you go through the process with the eID wizard, you will see a list with the possible domain names that you can register. Simply click on the one(s) you want to reserve. You will then receive a confirmation e-mail containing a reservation code for each domain name you have reserved. You should pass on this code within 7 days to your registrar (i.e. the accredited seller of domain names) in order to effectively register the domain name(s) you want.
Click here for a list of registrars where you can register a personal .vlaanderen or .brussels domain name.

Unique to Belgium

DNS Belgium is launching the .vlaanderen and  .brussels domain names in five phases. After the phase for trademark owners and the phase for government institutions, companies and organisations, this latest phase represents a unique opportunity for private individuals.
In other countries where new domain extensions are being launched, this phase for private individuals does not exist. But DNS Belgium thought it important to add this phase to the process, giving every Belgian the opportunity to apply for their own personal domain name prior to the phase when anyone can register any .vlaanderen or .brussels domain name that is still available.
More information about this eID phase.

This news release was sourced from:
www.dnsbelgium.be/en/news/vlaanderen-and-brussels-now-open-private-individuals

Domain Name Registrants, Domain Name Registrars, Domain Name Registry

New Terms & Conditions For .BE

From mid-November onwards, DNS Belgium will be offering a new service to the registrants of .be domain names, called the “Domain Guard”. DNS Belgium therefore made some minor changes to the Terms and Conditions that apply to all .be domain names.

When registering your domain name with your registrar, the latter normally asked you to accept the current version of the terms and conditions.

The new version (5.2) contains a description of the new service, the “Domain Guard”. This new functionality prevents any unwanted configuration alteration, update, transfer or cancellation of the domain name in question.

The new terms and conditions will come into force on 3 November 2014 and will, from that date, apply to all registered .be domain names and their respective registrants.

This DNS.BE news release was sourced from:
http://www.dnsbelgium.be/en/news/new-version-terms-conditions-be-domain-names

Domain Name Registrants, Domain Name Registrars, Domain Name Registry

Check If Your .BE Domain Name Has Variants

DNS.be logo[news release] From 22 January DNS Belgium enables a .be registrant to request a list of domain names that have similarities with your domain name. You can also view the details of the registrant of this domain names.

It is easy enough: you just fill in your .be domain name in the WHOIS box on this website. At the bottom of the page with the WHOIS results you can request a list of the variants of this particular name. DNS Belgium then sends an e-mail to the e-mail address held in our registration system. This e-mail contains a list of variants of your domain name and also provides the link to the WHOIS results for these .be domain names.

This enables you to easily check which .be domain names have been registered that have similarities with your domain name. If the list contains a domain name that has been registered by a third party and you believe you have a right to it, you can always contact the current registrant.

This DNS.be news release was sourced from:
dns.be/en/check-if-your-be-domain-name-has-variants

Domain Name Registrants, Domain Name Registrars, Domain Name Registry

.BE Registry Website Hacked

DNS.be logoThe website for the .be registry was hacked during the night on Saturday 27 July. DNS Belgium have issued a statement saying it was again the victim of a defacement with the hacking community apparently turning their sights on their website.

The cause was a vulnerability in an upload script which led to a leak in the Content Management System. This meant the hacker was able to deface the website. The website was restored within the hour and the vulnerable upload script was made inaccessible.

On closer examination however, DNS.be realised there seemed to be malicious software on their web servers that led to the websites taken offline temporarily. After removing the malicious software, the Content Management System was reinstalled.
DNS.be’s technical department is currently further analysing the deface attack. In a statement the registry says first reports are reassuring and indicate no data was stolen or modified from registrars or registrants. Except for the web server, no other systems (such as the registrar platform and the resolving service) seem to be compromised at this moment.
New patches are currently being tested and all going well rolled for the Content Management System within the next few days.
Domain Name Registry

DNS.be Website Hacked

DNS.be logoDNS.be woke on Tuesday morning (9 July) to discover their website had been hacked.

The files that were hacked, which meant the website was defaced, were immediately deleted and the registry has now taken the necessary precautions to block further malicious access to the website. A complete reinstall of the website was then undertaken.

DNS.be have reassured that the website does not grant access to confidential data or the registration platform. An investigation of what happened is currently underway.

Domain Name Registrants, Domain Name Registrars, Domain Name Registry

DNS.be Announces 3000 .BE IDN Domains Registered In First 30 Minutes

DNS.be logo[news release] This morning (11 June) at 10:00 CEST, the IDN functionality was added to the .be domain, allowing anybody to register .be domain names with accented letters. The launch started strong with already more than 3,000 registered IDN domain names in the first half hour.

This also meant that the .be registration system received a vast amount of requests in a short period of time. However, the system managed these requests without a hitch. As expected, most of the IDN domain names were registered within the first hour, after which the volumes dropped to a normal level. At 16:00 CEST, the .be domain was 5,284 IDN domain names strong.

We performed a first scan on this list of IDN domain names to identify possible phishing cases. As a result of this scan, we did not notice a high number of suspicious registrations.

Below we present an overview of the 10 most popular IDN domain names, based on the number of requests received:
1.    café.be
2.    météo.be
3.    hôtels.be
4.    bébé.be
5.    crédit.be
6.    hôtel.be
7.    één.be
8.    italië.be
9.    cinéma.be
10.  château.be

This is an overview of the 10 first IDN domain names registered:
1.    café.be
2.    météo. be
3.    hôtels.be
4.    bébé.be
5.    crédit.be
6.    cinéma.be
7.    italië.be
8.    université.be
9.    énergie.be
10.  référencement.be

The first statistics indicate that 79,73% of all IDN domain names were registered by an inhabitant of Belgium. Together with the high number of registration on the first day, this demonstrates that with the launch of IDN we are meeting a real need in Belgium.

This DNS.be news release was sourced from:
dns.be/en/a-great-start-for-idn

Domain Name Registrants, Domain Name Registrars, Domain Name Registry

Satisfaction with DNS.be remains consistently high!

DNS.be logo[news release] As it does each year, DNS.be has again surveyed its registrars to gauge their level of satisfaction. And with an overall score of 8.40, satisfaction remains at a consistently high level.

DNS.be attaches a great deal of importance to its registrars’ feedback  which is why it invited all 451 of them to take part in the latest satisfaction survey. Out of those 451 registrars, a record 143 (31.7%) completed the survey. Taken together, these 143 registrars represent 48% of all .be domain names. In addition to the overall figure for satisfaction, registrars also scored DNS.be consistently high for the various areas of service it provides.
Each year, DNS.be also polls its registrars about their satisfaction with other registries. Judging by the overall satisfaction score of 8.40, DNS.be is still clearly ahead of the rest.
DNS.be continues to make every effort to improve the level of satisfaction among its registrars, year after year – succeeding once again in 2012.
This DNS.be news release was sourced from:
dns.be/en/satisfaction-with-dnsbe-remains-consistently-high
Domain Name Registrants, Domain Name Registrars, Domain Name Registry

ccTLD Updates for .xxx, .pw, .ru, .fr, .nl, .ee, vn, .be, .no

“What has really happened as a result of .XXX?” one year on from its launch is the focus of an article on Xbiz.

The article notes that “among other things, new sites have come to market, new companies have formed to capitalise on new opportunities in the adult space and a level of accountability and oversight added to an industry that has long shunned supervision of any sort — while the majority of trademark disputes have been swiftly resolved in favour of the legitimate rights holders.”

And it notes that ICM Registry’s Stuart Lawley claims .XXX “has comfortably exceeded the company’s sales expectations — based on the figures it communicated back in 2003 and 2004 in its original application to ICANN.” ICM also believes renewal rates will be high, even though the first anniversary is not quite here.

The .pw ccTLD is relaunching being branded as ‘the Professional Web, with the new registry opening up a 68-day sunrise programme as of 3 December. The sunrise offers some unique features aimed at reducing overhead for brand-owners.

A guest posting on DomainNameNews from Kate Moran of TM.Biz, .pw’s trademark validation agent, looked at trademark validation for .PW. Unsurprisingly the posting considers .pw a leader, saying “the .pw registry is proposing to protect not only exact matches, but also any domain containing the trademark, misspellings, abbreviations and language translations of the validated trademark. The trademark validation agent, TM.Biz is coupling these rules with automated searches of 70 trademark databases.”

On 4 December, the Coordination Center for TLD RU/РФ and the Technical Center of Internet generated DNSSEC keys for .RU, one of the two Russian national domains. A formal event signified the first phase of signing .RU with DNSSEC, with all works expected to be finalised by the end of December 2012.

The .FR registry, Afnic, has released their December 2012 Domain Name Industry. The latest report looks at the growth rate for IPV6-compatible .fr domain names. In the report Afnic focuses on the success rate of Syreli claims in relation to the age of the domain name. Everything suggests that rights-holders are reactive and quickly intervene to enforce their rights via the Syreli procedure. The full report is available from the Afnic website here.

SIDN, the .nl registry, has published their final report of the 2012 Domain Name Debate. The debate examined issues such as availability of registrant’s details from Whois and drop catching. To check out the final report, check out the SIDN website here.

The price to registrars of .ee domain names will be cut by 11.8 percent on 1 March 2013, which will see the price cut from €17 to €15. Maximum registration periods will also be extended with options of two and three years.

Registrations of .vn domain names hit225,970 in the third quarter of 2012 according to VNNIC’s white paper on Vietnam’s internet.

Alternative Dispute Resolution celebrated its tenth birthday on 12 December, the .be registry dns.be announced. To mark the occasion, Cepina (the Belgian Centre for Arbitration and Mediation) organised a symposium in conjunction with DNS.be.

Norid, the registry for .no domain names, is again receiving reports on a company who tries to force Norwegian companies to buy domain names. The service is said to be offered to protect a company name or brand.

The issue may be a proposal to register a domain name within other top level domains, such as .com or .as, or they may suggest to register the domain name in different spellings, for instance with and without a hyphen. The company who offers services like this, often tells a story about other actors interested in buying the domain name, and that they need a quick decision.